CS Management Team

Colette DePhelps is Rural Roots Executive Director. She has been in leadership positions with Rural Roots since its inception in 1999 (leadership team member, program coordinator and executive director) and was one of the organizers and leaders of the task force from which Rural Roots formed. Colette has strong working relationships with faculty at both Washington State University and the University of Idaho, currently co-chairs the Washington/Idaho Partnership 2020 Sustainable Food Systems Initiative, a regional Kellogg FSPE project, and is well respected within the larger academic community.

Colette has a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from Western Washington University and a master’s degree in environmental science from Washington State University. Prior to working with Rural Roots, Colette spent two years as coordinator of the Palouse-Clearwater Environmental Institute’s community food systems program and three years as program coordinator in Washington State University’s Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources.